http://www.2theadvocate.com/sports/lsu/featured/37786719.html
The budding optimism around the LSU football program comes from the knowledge the Tigers presumably already have gone through the worst — a bitter November that defined the 2008 season — and answered that with their best effort of the season, a surprisingly easy Chick-fil-A Bowl win.
After a team meeting in which players were allowed to express themselves the night before the Chick-fil-A Bowl, the Tigers destroyed No. 14 Georgia Tech 38-3 at the Georgia Dome on New Year’s Eve.
“Several things came together in the bowl game that certainly should be looked at by our team as something we need to maintain,” said LSU coach Les Miles, who is 4-0 in bowls with the Tigers. “One, our team was much more hungry to compete. We got healthier. We got a quarterback in position to play and give us quality minutes. And certainly our defense was possessed.
“That’s how we need to play. That’s us. If we play like that from this point forward, we’ll be a very capable football team.”
Here’s the backdrop: A November when so much went wrong.
n The 2007 national champion, LSU had only two wins, both against nonconference teams and both noteworthy less for the winning.
n In a 35-10 victory against Tulane on Nov. 1, fans booed quarterback Jarrett Lee as he was wobbly and being escorted from the field after a fourth-quarter interception returned for a touchdown.
n And in a 40-31 win vs. Troy on Nov. 15, a huge portion of fans didn’t show up for the game rescheduled from September because of Hurricane Gustav and then plenty left when the Tigers trailed 31-3 early in the third quarter.
Those fans missed out on the largest comeback in school history when LSU scored 37 unanswered points.
There was a bitter 27-21 overtime loss to Alabama, then ranked No. 1; a humbling 31-13 loss to Ole Miss; and a stunning 31-30 loss to struggling Arkansas on a cold day in Little Rock.
All told, LSU, which began 4-0 and was ranked as high as No. 3 in September, fell out of the rankings for the first time since 2002 (and finished unranked for the first time since that season) and lost its final four SEC games.
That skid left the Tigers 3-5 in the league, their worst finish in the SEC since 1999.
LSU gave up 50 points twice in a season for the first time ever: 51-21 to Florida, which finished the season No. 1, and 52-38 to Georgia, which began the season No. 1.
And the Tigers (8-5) had their most losses since 1999 (3-8) and fewest victories since finishing 8-4 in 2000.
The downbeats get accentuated because of the recent run of success, with the BCS National Championship in 2003 and through the first three years under Miles, as LSU went 11-2 in both 2005 and ’06 and then 12-2 while claiming the national title last season.
The Advocate
1/18/08
